This section describes the various file managers that are available for managing the files on your PC-BSD system. It then shows how you can configure your PC-BSD system to share files with other systems in your network using Samba.

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File Managers and File Structure

Depending upon which window managers you have installed, different graphical file manager utilities may already be installed for you. You do not need to be logged into a specific window manager to use an installed file manager. For example, if KDE is installed, you can run its file manager from any window manager by typing dolphin. KDE, GNOME, LXDE, and XFCE install their own file managers while most of the unsupported desktops assume that you will install your favorite file manager. Table 9.3a summarizes the available file managers and indicates which desktop they are installed with. Some file managers can be installed independent of a desktop using AppCafe®/10.0 to install the PBI. Once a file manager is installed, type its name if you wish to run it from another desktop.

When working with files on your PC-BSD system, save your own files to your home directory. Since most of the files outside of your home directory are used by the operating system and applications, you should not delete or modify any files outside of your home directory, unless you know what you are doing.

Table 9.3b summarizes the directory structure found on a PC-BSD system. man hier explains this directory structure in more detail.

Samba

Samba[9] allows any operating system to share volumes using Microsoft's CIFS protocol. There are two components to Samba:

client libraries: this allows an operating system to access existing CIFS shares. The client is built into the Windows and Mac OS X operating systems and is installed for you during the PC-BSD installation. Most Linux distros also install the Samba client; if your Linux distro does not, search its software repository.

server: this allows a computer to act like a Windows server in that it can create shares and printers that are available to any CIFS client on the same network.

This section will demonstrate how to access shares using the Samba client as well as how to configure your PC-BSD system as a Samba server.

Using the Samba Client

Since the Samba client libraries are pre-installed for you, you simply have to decide which utility you prefer to access existing Windows shares on your network. If a desktop is installed, you do not have to be logged into that desktop in order to use that utility.

Table 9.3c summarizes the available utilities (type a utility's name to launch it in any desktop), which desktop it installs with and whether or not a separate PBI is available, and a short description of how to access the available shares using that utility.

in the left frame, click on Network → Samba Shares, then the Workgroup name; if the network requires a username and password to browse for shares, set this in Control Panel/10.0 → System Settings → Sharing while in KDE or type systemsettings → Sharing while in another desktop

Configuring the Samba Server

If you would like to share folders or a printer attached to your PC-BSD system with other users in your network, configure the built-in Samba server.

In order to create shares, Samba's configuration file, smb.conf[10], needs to be modified. You can either edit this file manually or use a GUI utility such as SWAT[11]. This section will demonstrate both methods.

Edit smb.conf Manually

To modify the file manually, become the superuser and copy the sample file to the configuration directory:

and try browsing to the share from another system. Note that you may have to first map a drive to the share in order for it to appear in Windows Explorer or within the file manager utility of another PC-BSD or Linux system.

Create Shares Using SWAT

SWAT provides a graphical front-end to smb.conf through a web browser.

To enable SWAT, remove the # at the beginning of this line in /etc/inetd.conf:

#swat stream tcp nowait/400 root /usr/local/sbin/swat swat

Add the following line to /etc/rc.conf:

inetd_enable=”YES”

And start inetd:

service inetd start

To connect to SWAT, open a web browser and input the IP address of the PC-BSD computer followed by :901. When prompted, input the username root and the password associated with the superuser account. In the example shown in Figure 9.3a, the user has clicked on the "Globals" button in order to view the global settings.

One of the nice features of SWAT is the built-in help system. If you need more information about an option, simply click its "Help" hyperlink to access that section of the Samba documentation. The "shares" button allows you to quickly create shares and the "view" button allows you to review the current configuration.